Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said on Monday, March 7, that the Holy See is carrying out efforts for peace in Ukraine on various levels.
“What needs to be done now, first of all, is to stop the weapons and the fighting,” said the cardinal in an interview over Italian broadcaster TV2000.
“We are available. If it is considered that our presence and our action can help, we are there,” he said.
Cardinal Parolin said the Vatican’s intervention can be done through several levels, the first of which is “the religious level.”
He said everyone is invited to pray “so that God grants peace to that martyred land and to involve believers in this choir of prayer.”
There is also help being provided at the humanitarian level, mainly through Caritas and local dioceses, “which like many other organizations, are very committed to welcoming refugees.”
The cardinal said the Vatican is also willingn to engage at the diplomatic level, adding that attempts “are being made throughout the world.”
He also reiterated that pronouncement of Pope Francis that the Vatican is willing “to help in every way to stop the weapons and the violence and to negotiate a solution.”
On Sunday, the pontiff condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and expressed his solidarity with the country.
“Rivers of blood and tears are flowing in Ukraine,” he began his Angelus address in the weekend. “It is not merely a military operation, but a war, which sows death, destruction, and misery.”
“The Holy See is ready to do everything, to put itself at the service of this peace,” he said, announcing that two cardinals recently traveled to Ukraine “to serve the people, to help.”
“The presence of the two cardinals there is the presence not only of the pope, but of all the Christian people who want to get closer and say: ‘War is madness! Stop, please! Look at this cruelty!’” said the pope.
He repeated his call from the previous week for humanitarian corridors to provide relief to Ukrainians.
“The number of victims is increasing, as are the people fleeing, especially mothers and children. The need for humanitarian assistance in that troubled country is growing dramatically by the hour,” he warned.
“I make a heartfelt appeal for humanitarian corridors to be genuinely secured, and for aid to be guaranteed and access facilitated to the besieged areas,” he added, “in order to offer vital relief to our brothers and sisters oppressed by bombs and fear.” – with a report from CNA
